Biomedship Students Win Global Entrepreneurial Competition

GlucaGo LLC, a life sciences company led by a trio from Purdue and Indiana universities, captured first place in the 2009 Global Idea to Product Competition, beating 14 other teams and claiming the $10,000 top prize for their emergency kit that automatically mixes and injects medication for diabetics.

The competition, held Oct. 30 and 31 in Austin, Texas, featured teams from 19 universities and eight countries - Great Britain, Portugal, Japan, Sweden, Germany, Ireland and Brazil, and U.S. competitors from Georgia, Indiana, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Texas, Colorado and New Hampshire.

Leading the GlucaGo team are Rush Bartlett, a doctoral student in biomedical engineering at Purdue who is simultaneously completing a MBA at IU; Arthur Chlebowski, a doctoral student in biomedical engineering at Purdue; and Peter Greco, who is pursuing an MBA from Purdue. "As graduate students with limited financial resources, it's difficult to get the money to start a business," Bartlett said. "Because of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a hands-on education we decided to take a gamble and take out student loans to pay for the prototype. This win means we can continue pursuing the dream to be entrepreneurs."

The annual competition challenges students to create a product concept using innovative technology with a marketing plan that outlines a roadmap to commercialize the product. For the first time, this year's event was divided into three categories with separate themes: sustainability and clean energy, biomedical technology, and information technology/wireless.

The Purdue-IU team created the technology as part of Purdue’s Biomedical Entrepreneurship (Biomedship) program, established a limited liability company, and have licensed the technology from Purdue's Office of Technology Commercialization. In addition to working with the Purdue's biomedical engineering program, Krannert School of Management and Biomedship program, the team collaborated with a diabetes specialist at IU's School of Medicine, she said. The Rose-Hulman Ventures Lab in Terre Haute, Ind., created the prototype to the student's specifications.